January 22, 2010

Greetings Everyone,

On Wednesday, several friends and I set out for Fort Liberte, a city about 10 miles from Ouanaminthe.  Luberto Velez, my good friend from Puerto Rico who is designing Aslan’s clinic/hospital, orphanage and mission training school, arranged a meeting with the mayor of Fort Liberte to talk with him about bringing groups of doctors to help with the earthquake victims.  As I suspected, the reverberations from the earthquake are already spreading throughout the country.  We went to the hospital in Fort Liberte to see how we might help.  The mayor and hospital administrator quickly agreed to help us in every way possible.  They suggested that we transport earthquake casualties brought from Port-au-Prince to Cap-Haitien directly to Fort Liberte.  Cap-Haitien is a city of over 250,000, whereas Fort Liberte is a relatively quiet city of perhaps 25,000.  There are already a few earthquake victims in the hospital of this smaller town, and there are many in Cap-Haitien.  We toured the hospital and then visited a nearby hotel where the doctors and nurses will stay when they come to help.

We jumped back into the small pickup truck and immediately headed for Cap-Haitien.  The picture below right tells the story of city life in Haiti.  The roads are bad on a good day, and when it rains they can easily become impassable.  The narrow, labyrinthine streets are a maze that only the best drivers can navigate and are an example of why it is so difficult to get aid to those in need in Port-au-Prince.   Visiting the hospital in Cap-Haitien was not for the faint of heart.  We saw row upon row of beds with earthquake victims ~ some with amputated limbs and others with with horrible compound fractures.  One man pictured below had managed to dig himself out of the rubble of his home in Port-au-Prince and then crawl and limp to somewhere along the outskirts of this huge, destroyed city.  6a00e552ed7b758833012876ffdd3c970c-320wiMiraculously, he found a tap-tap to take him 150 miles north to Cap-Haitien to the hospital.  All of this he did on his own, except for actually driving himself to the hospital.  As we walked through wards, flies were everywhere and the stench of urine was strong.  The patients and any family members who had escaped with them sat in silence, obviously still in shock from what had happened to them.  David Perez, a doctor and friend of Luberto’s, examined X-rays and collected  valuable information regarding the kind of physicians that will be most helpful.

From Cap, we traveled 10 – 15 miles on a horrible dirt road to Milot.  What we saw there was both encouraging and discouraging.  There is a wonderful hospital in Milot, administrated by a wonderful Haitian doctor and staffed with  Haitian directors and other doctors from around the world.  You sensed immediately that the care given to the patients was extremely good; but you also sensed that the doctors were overwhelmed by the needs.  The administrator, Dr. Preval, met with us for a short time and explained that they had already received 160 earthquake victims that had been medivaced by helicopter from Port-au-Prince.  We walked across the street to a school that was filled with patients.  It was shocking to see scores of people laying on hard school desks that were being used as beds.  One school room was set up with a hastily penned sign “Triage” taped to the outside wall.

We arrived back in Ouanaminthe about 7 pm, totally exhausted from the grueling day.  What we had seen was nothing in comparison with the pictures you see coming out of Port-au-Prince; but it was still awful in every way.  Particularly disheartening were the two teenagers we saw who had both lost their legs.  There is so much more to write, but it must wait.

We need doctors and nurses to come here and help.  Even if they can only assist for a few days, they will be able to save lives that may otherwise be lost.  In particular, orthopaedic surgeons are desperately needed.  Dr. Perez explained that the innumerable compound fractures we saw need to be set properly with pins to hold the bones together so they will heal properly.  This picture below right is an X-ray of a young boy laying in the hospital in Cap with his leg held toward the ceiling in traction.  6a00e552ed7b758833012876ffe325970c-320wiHe is hoping against hope that someone will come to help.  If you know doctors and nurses who would be willing to come here, please contact me by email immediately.  Traveling through Santiago, D.R., we can have any medical personnel from JFK to Fort Liberte in 8 hours or less ~ with paved roads from Santiago to Fort Liberte!  The need  is overwhelming, and the time to act is now.  What we saw is only the first wave of earthquake victims to be brought north.  There will undoubtedly be thousands over the coming weeks and months.

Please, please send this to any and everyone that you know. And please keep these suffering people in your prayers.  I’ll write again as soon as I can get to an internet signal.

Craig

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